Monday, July 23, 2012

In Richmond, VA, we are lucky to have another fabulous public garden in town called Maymont. This garden was the estate of the Dooley family from 1893 to 1925. The 100-acre property boasts a fabulous tree collection, mansion, Children's Farm, wild animal collection, Italian garden, and a 100-year old Japanese Garden which is the largest of its kind in the USA. It is walking distance from my house and has held a special place in my heart since the first time I visited during my very first trip to Richmond. Here are a few photos from my visit last week.

Sunday, July 15, 2012

I saw an adorable bathing suit cover-up on Pinterest and had to give it a try. I used the tutorial from the La Vie en Rose blog. I basically followed her directions, with a few changes. For the record, this took more than the 20 minutes that she claims, but it was probably because of the extras I added. I wanted the top to be more secure so I crossed the braided straps in the back. This proved to be impossible to take on and off, so I put fabric-covered buttons on the front so I can unbutton the straps to take it off. It still isn't the easiest thing to put on and takes a bit of maneuvering, but I think it will be ok. I also used a pink lycra/spandex material instead of using jersey. Instead of leaving the edges raw, I serged the edges with my Aunt Cindy's fancy serger. I stretched the fabric as I serged to make a wavy lettuce edge. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. Now its time to hit the beach!